Mr Black wall cm the Instincts of Birds, ^8 



mallet — the tree nodded to its fall ; but still the dam sat on. At 

 last when it gave way, the bird was flung from her nest ; and 

 though her parental affection deserved a better fate, was 

 whipped down by the twigs, which brought her dead to the 

 ground." 



That ardent affection which most birds feel for their young, 

 seems to awaken their dormant energies, and to inspire them 

 with a degree of courage and address, that is called forth on no 

 other occasion. Nor is the violence of this affection, to use the 

 language of Mr White, more wonderful than the shortness of 

 its duration. Thus, every hen is in h^r turn the virago of the 

 yard, in proportion to the helplessness of her brood, and will fly 

 iti the face of a dog or a sow, in defence of those chickens which 

 in a few weeks she will drive before her in relentless cruelty. 

 The partridge will tumble along before a sportsman, in order to 

 draw away the dogs from her helpless covey ; and a very exact 

 observer (the Rev. John White), has remarked, that a pair of 

 ravens nestling in the rock of Gibraltar, would suffer no vulture 

 or eagle to rest near their station, but would drive them from 

 the hill with amazing fury ; and that even the blue thrush, at 

 the season of breeding, would dart out from the clefts of the 

 rocks to chase away the kestril or the sparrow-hawk. Indeed, 

 so regardless of danger are some species while their nestlings 

 are small, that I have known the redbreast, whinchat, great tit- 

 mouse, &c., when introduced to their nests, after having been 

 forcibly removed to a distance from their unfledged young, re- 

 main quietly upon them as if they had not been molested. Yet, 

 although this instinct, the transient effects of which depend most 

 likely on a temporary excitation of the parental feelings by some 

 physical modification of the corporeal organs, thug for a time 

 powerfully predominates, its manifestations are nevertheless fre- 

 quently influenced by the active co-operation of the intellectual 

 faculties, as in the following examples : — 



*' The fly-catcher,'' says Mr White *, " builds every year in 

 the vines that grow on the walls of my house. A pair of these 

 little birds had one year inadvertently placed their nest on a 

 naked bough, perhaps in a shady time, not being aware of the 

 inconvenience that followed. But a hot sunny season coming 



• Nat. Hist, of Selbome, j). 161. 



